The Seventh Master
by kindasortastantheman
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto is a very strange man. He lives all alone in a very odd location, has a lot of weird quirks, and seems to enjoy ruining the lives of others. It seems his next target happens to be one Shirahama Kenichi. The only problem is, he has some serious competition.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I hate first chapters, probably because they're a huge pain to write. You have to introduce, or reintroduce, a whole bunch of characters. You gotta get the setting and… Well that's just me being lazy. If you guys haven't figured this out by now, I happen to be very VERY lazy. On that note, who's excited for back to school time?! I probably don't need to tell you guys and gals this, but I really won't have a whole lot of time to update my stories during the early to mid fall season. Sure it might happen, but I tend to rather pessimistic about these sorts of things.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Kenichi. What? Did you just automatically assume that I was going to make a smartass comment? You should be ashamed of yourself.**

* * *

"What's wrong with you ya' bastard? You tryin' to pick a fight with me?" Ordinarily, a man who is twenty five years old wouldn't usually say such things. Uzumaki Naruto was an exception. He wasn't what most would call ordinary, and for good reason. Who, or better yet, what was the individual in question getting upset at? The answer could be found shining brightly and rather disgustingly in the midmorning sky.

The sun, was currently at the perfect angle to where it shone through his window directly onto his face. And he was not very happy about it. "Stupid rundown piece of shit. Why the hell did that good for nothing old bastard send me here any way?"

Finally realizing his defeat at the hands of the bright ball of life, he sluggishly dragged himself out of his futon. Upon standing, he stretched his arms out in an attempt to work out the soreness of sleeping on the floor. "Tchh. Can't even afford my own bed, being poor sucks.

* * *

In the nearby town a rather attractive looking fifteen year old blonde girl who could have passed for someone a little older stopped doing her morning training for a moment. "Miu-san, what's wrong?" She turned to face a rather plain yet extremely beaten up boy with brown hair who appeared to be about her age.

"Oh it's nothing Kenichi, I just felt for a moment that someone rather close understands me on a better level now." Kenichi, being rather dense, assumes she is talking about him. ' _Wow, maybe Miu-san is finally realizing my feelings for-.'_ He was cut off from his thoughts by kick that smashed into his rib cage and sent him flying into a nearby wall.

"Kenichi! Are you okay?!" Her only answer was a rather shaky thumbs up coming from his broken and mangled form on the ground.

* * *

Naruto, still half asleep, trudged through a rather narrow yet traditional Japanese looking hallway. Coming to a door near the end of the hall, he slid it open to reveal a bathroom. As he entered closing the door behind him, he stopped to look at himself in the mirror.

At twenty five years of age he was rather pleased with his physical appearance. His hair, which he left on the long side, was still as unruly as it was during his childhood. His height was another matter entirely however, as now he was almost 180 cm tall. A rather impressive feat, considering how short he had been in his youth. Wait, that was how old people thought. He wasn't old yet dammit! Speaking of feeling old, the stubble on his face didn't really help much with that particular image."Should I shave today?" He peered at himself in the mirror for a moment longer before shaking his head. "Nah. I always look badass no matter what, so there's no need."

This had nothing to with the fact that the stubble hid his whisker marks almost perfectly, not that they needed it. This was another change that had taken place in, or in this case on, him. It made him a little sad that the marks on his face continued to grow fainter with each passing year.

Twenty minutes later he was standing out front of his house. Actually it wasn't a house at all. He was currently standing in the middle of a long abandoned shinto shrine. He wasn't trespassing or anything, technically he owned the shrine and the grounds around it. It just looked abandoned since he was the only one taking care of it. It wasn't his fault really, he was just one man. A badass yes, but someone with the ability to make dozens of copies of himself he was not. Inwardly he scoffed at such a ridiculous idea. ' _As if that could ever happen'_

"Let's see here… what do I need to clean up today?" He looked around and noticed that quite a few trees were obscuring and overhanging the stairs that led up to shrine. Walking up to where the trees were located he put his right hand on a sheathed katana that was currently strapped to the side of his all white kimono. What? He lived in a shrine so he figured that he might as well look the part. He positioned himself in a basic iaijutsu stance with his left foot slightly behind his right. If a flash he was at the bottom of the stairs with his hand still resting on his sheathed sword. He inhaled and then a moment later released the breath. As he did so seven of the full sized trees were felled. They had all been sliced cleanly through as if they were made of paper.

"Damn. Still not there yet huh?" His gaze wandered to the tree closest to the bottom. It was the only one of its brethren that remained. After a moment, this tree fell as well. Though as it did one could see a that it was only most of the way cut through, and had fallen due to the strain on the remaining portion that was still connected. "Well, guess I'll just have to wait till the old pervert gets back here so I can finally finish that last bit of training of his." With that he marched back up the stairs leading to the place he called his home.

* * *

It was late in the day by the time he had finished his daily cleaning/training. The shrine looked a little better everyday that he worked on it, but it still had a long way to go. Sure he probably _could_ fix it all up in one day, but he prefered to take his time and get things done with as little effort as possible. Hence the fact that he only actually worked on cleaning the place up for five to ten minutes each time and spent the rest of his days off lazing around. Which is what he was doing now, or so it seemed. He was actually in the middle of some rather difficult training.

He was currently seated in the lotus position with his eyes closed while seated on top of a stone platform. Said platform was currently balancing on the point of a rock spire that conveniently was right behind the main building. ' _Convenient my ass, that old bastard probably had that put there some how.'_ If Naruto had a problem with his life then he usually found it worked out for the best to blame it on his teacher. Not only was it a convenient way of dealing with the problem, it was also usually true to some extent.

He didn't really know how long he stayed seated in that position. It felt like minutes when he concentrated hard enough, but it could have just as well been several hours. After a few more _minutes_ he flipped himself into the air and landed on the ground ten feet below him. He lifted one finger above his head, and after a moment the small stone slab landed perfectly on the tip. He let it drop to the ground, the object making a sizable indent into the ground as he did so. "Atleast I got this stupid shit down I guess."

He walked back inside to clean up from everything he had done that day. After eating a quick meal that consisted of bread dipped in some miso. ' _Fuck being poor, I want large bowl of some fuck mothering ramen.'_ He went to bed rather early for one his age, this was mainly due to how early he had to wake up most mornings so he could head into town for his job. Despite owning a shrine as massive as the one he lived in, he was broke. Unfortunately being a bum who lived all alone in some obscure location doesn't exactly rake in the cash. And to make matters worse he lived rather far from his work place, and no trains or buses ran in his neck of the woods. So he was forced to walk(read: haul some serious ass) to work every day.

* * *

Hauling ass was a rather good way to describe the pace that Naruto was moving at right now. As he passed several moving vehicles, much to their shock, it became apparent that he was running a little late. It became even more obvious by his appearance, his clothes looked like they had been thrown on rather hastily, and he still had a piece of toast in his mouth. ' _Ten minutes left huh? SHIT I ONLY HAVE TEN MINUTES!'_ Much to the continuing shock of all the people on the road Naruto bent his legs a little while still keeping his current pace. He then used the slight bend to propel himself like a bullet into the air. He landed on top of one of the shorter buildings a good distance away.

His destination was in sight now, he would be there in less than two minutes. As he got to the final stretch he did the unthinkable, he slowed down to match the pace of the other regular people running next to him. None of them seemed to pay him any mind however, as they were all also in a hurry. Naruto burst through the front door just as a bell rang signalling it was time for the day to start. He then ran through a few hallways and a flight of stairs before coming to a door. He slid it open and dove inside just as the last bell rang signalling it was time for school to start.

He skidded through the entry way, somehow managing to shut the door behind him as he did so. After which he did a forward roll that he landed perfectly, all while still having the bread in his mouth. He came to a stop at the front of the room. He didn't move for a moment however, he only raised his head and looked at a few people in the front row who looked to be contemplating something. After a minute they all raised signs with numbers on them. They all read 10.

As Naruto stood he smirked to himself at his results, brushing himself off as he did so. He then pushed on a pair of glasses and walked up to a podium at the front of the room and began to address the rooms occupants. "Alright then." He said in a calm yet firm tone, a complete one eighty from his earlier actions. "Class is now in session."

* * *

 **This is one idea i've had in my head for a while now, and it feels kinda nice to get it written down. Just to let you all know, even though I hinted at it, this Naruto was born in the Kenichi world. You know what that means, no chakra, no smartass talking demon, and no crazy organization out to get him. Well the last one will probably change but, meh. The Naruto of this fic is rather strong, but not overly so. He is currently just under the level of most of the masters of Ryozanpaku, except the elder (that man doesn't mess about), so expect some challenging times ahead.**

 **Oh and here's what Naruto's digs look like, just imagine it with less people and looking a lot more run down. Don't forget to remove the spaces.**

japan-web-magazine en /mie /ise-jingu

 **Till Later**


	2. Chapter 2

**If anyone can guess where my inspiration for the flashback in this chapter came from, well good for you. Just to clarify, this story takes place right after the Ragnarok arc, but before any of the Yomi and Yami crap starts to hit the fan.**

 **Disclaimer: Stan the man doesn't own anything. Like seriously I checked, my name is not anywhere in the copyright listing for either of these manga. It's ridiculous.**

* * *

*sigh*

"..."

*Sigh*

"..."

*SIGH*

"Is something bothering you Kenichi?"

"Oh no it's nothing," Miu could tell that there was some hesitation in his voice. So she sent him a look."Well actually, yes there is." She quirked an eyebrow. "Uzumaki sensei can be a real jerk sometimes you know."

She didn't actually, in fact she rather enjoyed the man's classes. She would admit that while he was rather laid back most of the time, he did have his moments. But as far as teachers went, or substitutes anyway, she thought he was a good teacher. A sentiment that was shared by most of the class, except for Kenichi apparently. "Why don't you like him?"

"Well…" She noticed there was some hesitation in his voice. "I guess it started back when I met him for the first time."

* * *

 _Four months ago_

 _It was no secret that Kenichi was a total weakling before he started his training. And as such many of the people in the school that were stronger than him, so just about everyone, liked to use this to their advantage. "Come on man! It's just 20,000 yen. I know that you must have it on ya' somewhere." A rather large looking brute that could barely pass for a human being, let alone a teenager, had backed Kenichi into a corner out by the schools outer wall._

" _I-I'm sorry but I don't h-!" He was unable to finish his sentence due to the teens massive fist being driven into his gut. Not only did the punch knock the wind out of him, it knocked him onto his back as well. The monster of a teen didn't stop there however, as he then brought his right foot down in a stomping motion onto Kenichi's stomach._

" _Tchh, whatever. I'll be back tomorrow though, so you better have my money by then." And with that he left Kenichi laying down in the dirt struggling to breath. After a minute Kenichi sat up and punched the ground as tears started to leak from his eyes. 'Why am I so weak?'_

" _Ah, this depressing atmosphere is making me feel like I should just go back home." Kenichi was shocked out of his little moment of self reflection by an unknown voice. It's origin seemed to come from above him, as he looked upwards he noticed who made the comment sitting on top of one of the school's concrete walls. It was none other than his soon to be substitute teacher, not that he knew that yet._

 _At the time he was a little taken aback at the man's sudden appearance, mainly because he looked like he didn't belong in a school. He was dressed in a pair of tan cargo shorts that clashed horribly with the orange hawaiian flower patterned shirt that he was currently also dressed in. The addition of the aviator sunglasses and the weird clog-like sandals he was wearing didn't exactly help with the "I belong in a school" look. He really didn't know what to say, so he just went with his gut._

" _W-who are you?" The man considered his question for a moment, before countering with one of his own._

" _This place is Koryo High correct?"_

" _Y-yes, that's correct."_

" _Ah good." He stood up on the wall showing off his rather impressive height. "I found the right place then." The strange man then jumped down from the wall, and landed easily on his feet. "Hmm, well I'm not late yet at least."_

 _Kenichi didn't know what to think. 'What's up with this weird old dude? He looks like he's some sort of professional athlete.' Naruto seemed to notice that Kenichi was staring at him like he some sort of criminal, and tried to remedy the situation. "Hey, hey now!" Naruto waved his hand in a placating manner. "You don't have to look at me like that. I promise I'm not a suspicious person or anything." This of course only served to make Kenichi feel even more on guard, 'He-he really does look a little suspicious.'_

 _After realizing that his attempts at convincing the boy that he wasn't some sort of creeper were in vain he made to walk away. After a few steps however, he turned back around. "By the way," he said scratching the back of his head in a sheepish manner, "Which way to the school office?"_

 _Kenichi had to stop himself from face faulting, before pointing in the right direction "It's that way."_

" _Thank you." Then man took a few more steps before turning back to Kenichi. This time Naruto had a sinister looking smirk on his face. "Ah by the way...You really got the crap kicked out of yourself there, huh?" Crap, had he seen that? Kenichi wanted to make sure that no one saw him get beat up like that. "Well whatever."_

" _What do you mean?" Wasn't this man going to give him some words of comfort, or maybe even tell the administrators? Not that he wanted those things to happen, but that was usually how these things went._

" _To answer your very first question. The reason you're so weak is rather simple." Kenichi looked at the man with widening eyes. Was he going to give him the solution to his problems? "It's because you happen to be a coward_. _That's why those guys push you around so much." Or maybe not. "Well you better get used to it." The man chuckled a little to himself. "Just think of it as your eternal destiny."_

 _Naruto gained a contemplative look for a moment. "Unless you are trying to be like Buddha, then you have my utmost respect." With that he walked off leaving Kenichi to his thoughts. 'What the hell is up with that weird old dude?' It was safe to say that he would be in for a surprise come home room._

* * *

"That's horrible, how could something like that be allowed to happen?"

"Are you talking about what he said or the beating?"

"Both!" They were interrupted by the sounds of evil laughter.

"That's the way it always used to be right Kenichi? It's a good thing you had such a good friend like me around to watch out for you." Kenichi made a face that looked like someone had just given him a week's worth of extra homework.

"What do you want Niijima?" As if he was beamed directly out of a spaceship, and he very well could of pulled that off for more than one reason, Haruo Niijima literally appeared right before their very eyes. It was both cool and a little unsettling to say the least. Saying he could have come straight out of a spaceship was a rather accurate description, given as most people from earth don't usually have pointy ears and a pair of antennae on their head.

"Do I need a reason to come see one of best friends in the whole world?" The blank stare he received was enough of an answer. "Right, right fine. I overheard you talking about our substitute and figured I could be tempted to share some information about him with you. At a cost of course."

"What sort of cost?" This answer only drew an amused grin from the strange… well whatever the heck that Niijima actually was.

"Well… You have to drop by and see our new HQ that _I_ put together for the Shinpaku alliance!"

"Fine."

"Really? That's all I have to do?"

"Yep."

"Hmm.. Let's see here." Pulling out his PDA he quickly sifted through it's contents before coming to the right information. "Here we go. Name: Uzumaki Naruto. Age: 25. Height: 180 cm. Favorite color: Orange. Place of residence: Unknown. Family: Unknown. Personality: A relatively laid back person who can be serious when the situation calls for it. Very good physical health, along with good looks and great sense of humor." He stopped reading and put away his PDA.

"Is that all the information you have on him?" That was a little surprising, usually Niijima had all the major info on people within a few days. Uzumaki sensei had been there for over four months, which now that he thought about it was a rather long time for a substitute to be required.

"Unfortunately so. Everytime I try to tail him after school I always lose him and end up in ridiculous situations." At first he found it was interesting that the man was able to lose him so easily, but after a while it became increasingly more annoying.

"Ridiculous situations?"

"Last time I ended up tied down to the back of a truck to Kyoto. It took me two hours to get loose."

"Hmm, guess you aren't as good as you thought huh?" His comment got a scowl out of Niijima and a small giggle out of Miu.

"Fine then. I'll make sure to get information on him. I'll have so much dirt on him you won't even be able to comprehend it with your feeble human mind!" And with that the strange little man ran off to attempt once again to gather the information that he needed.

* * *

"I lost him again! How is this possible?" After what seemed like hours Niijima had managed to catch a glimpse of the mysterious teacher in the downtown area. He had attempted to follow him, but had lost him in the crowd. "How can I face Kenichi if I don't come back with any new information. As he was about to turn around and admit his defeat, he heard a noise from a nearby alley. And being himself, he had to investigate.

After arriving at the scene Niijima was feeling rather ecstatic. Why? He had finally caught up to the blonde. Said blonde was currently surrounded by ten very mean looking men who appeared to be bouncers for the bar that this alley was connected to. "What do you mean you just " _forgot_ to pay your tab"? It was huge, I've never seen anyone consume that much alcohol in my entire life!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh my, such praising words."

"Are you taking that as a compliment?!" The man seemed to be at his wits end, for right as he was finished yelling at Naruto he slugged him across the face. _Well, this isn't what I meant when I said I wanted information but...'_ Niijima pulled out his phone and started to record what was going on, ' _Maybe Kenichi will let me slide by with this instead.'_

"So then, You ready to pay your tab? Or do I need to take it out on your body?" Naruto remained unmoving, his bangs overshadowed his eyes.

"Hate to break it to you but," When he raised his head to look the man in the eyes again his face was all seriousness, and a heavy presence seemed to cover the alley way. Niijima couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had felt something similar before. ' _Where have I felt this feeling before?'_ "My body might just be too much for you to handle." Before the bouncer could even question what Naruto meant by that he was sent flying courtesy of knee to the gut.

The man landed on the other side of the alley way and crashed into some trash cans. The alley way went dead silent. Everyone, Niijima included, was left with their mouth hanging wide open at what the blonde had just done. "Come on then, don't just stand there." The blonde motioned for the other to come at him. "I've had a lot of stress building up recently, and you guys look like you might be the perfect set of punching bags.

The remaining nine bouncers looked at each other, then at Naruto, then back at each other. They all nodded to each other before simultaneously charging the lone blonde. Naruto's only visible reaction was the smirk that grew on his face at what these men were attempting to do.

Niijima didn't really know how to describe what was happening in front of him. One minute the man was getting his ass kicked, the next he was the one doing the ass kicking. He almost forgot that he was recording everything that was happening on his phone. "Ha ha ha! Come one you guys have to try harder than that!" Scratch that, Naruto looked like he was having the time of his life, he wasn't really even trying anymore.

' _I should probably split before I get found out.'_ He let a smirk drift onto his features, Kenichi would definitely be getting that information of his. "Ha ha ha, Shoryuken! Man I've always wanted to say that!" Niijima had to sweatdrop a little at that last part.

* * *

"AAAHHH! Make it stop!"

"Don't worry Kenichi, you only have three more sets." The poor youth in question was currently stuck in a very strange looking contraption. It's purpose? To ensure that every second he was strapped to it was similar hell in it's purest form.

"You said that five sets ago!"

"Oh, did I say something like that? Hmm, my bad I must have meant ten instead." Who was the torture master? One of the masters of Ryozanpaku Akisame Koetsuji, also known as the philosophical jujitsu master. He was a deceptively kind looking man in his late thirties who was slightly above average height. His messy black hair and small but well maintained mustache went well with his strange pupil less eyes, in a creepy mad scientist kind of way.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Kenichi was hoping that after everything with Ragnarok was done and over with he could rest for a few days. His teachers had other Ideas.

"Hey Akisame, it's my turn now. Unhook the brat so _I_ can beat him around for a few hours." Sakaki Shio was a mountain of a man with dark hair that was similar to an eggplant in color. His hair was relatively short, sans for one strand that seemed to defy gravity and went up over his face. The massive scar that went across his nose only seemed to add to his already intimidating appearance. He was also one of the masters of Ryozanpaku and for good reason. They didn't call the man "The One Hundred Dan fighter" for no reason after all.

"Ah Sakaki, is it that late already? Alright Kenichi you're free to go." Once the machine stopped moving Kenichi collapsed onto the ground unmoving.

"You didn't kill him did you Akisame?" Akisame looked at Kenichi's crumpled form and gained a thoughtful look.

"Hmm, I wonder. Perhaps I turned up the machine too high?" He put his left hand under his chin and put the right one under his left elbow in a thinking pose. "Kenichi, are you still alive?" His only answer came in the form of a rather pained grunt. "See, he's perfectly fine."

Sakaki looked a little unsure, but walked over to Kenichi anyways. "Alright brat", he said picking him up. "Time for some more traini-"

"KENICHI!" Before Shio could finish he was interrupted by none other that Niijima who had a terrified look on his face. Why? He was currently running for his life from a very gorgeous yet dangerous looking woman wielding a katana. This was Kosaka Shigure, the prodigy of all swords and weapons and also a master at Ryozanpaku."CALL OF THIS DEMON!"

"Niijima?" Kenichi, despite being slung over his master's back like a sack of potatoes, was able to tilt himself so that he could see Niijima running towards him in fear. "Ah. Shigure sensei," he called out lamely, "this one's a friend, so please don't hurt him too much." Niijima came to a stop right beside Sakaki, and by extension Kenichi, and delivered him a glare.

"What did you mean by too much?" Kenichi just shrugged tiredly from atop his massive master's shoulder. "And to think that I went to all of that trouble to get that information that you wanted, I guess I'll just keep it for myself." This got Kenichi to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Information?" He thought for a moment, then his eyes widened. "Oh! That information." Kenichi jumped off of Sakaki's back and landed next to Niijima, seeming having regained all of his energy. "What did you find out?" Niijima couldn't help but smirk at the situation. This was one of his favorite things about gathering information, getting to share it.

"Here," he said pulling out his phone. "Let me show you." He played the video and waited for Kenichi's reaction. He watched his "friend" go through a series of reactions while watching the video. At first he was a little shocked at seeing the usually cool and collective substitute getting thrashed, and then his eyes nearly burst out of their sockets when the man became serious. Finally he couldn't help but sweat drop at the man's attitude, especially the part where…" _Shoryuken. Ha, I've always wanted to say that!"_

"Hmm, that was a rather impressive display if I must say so."

"Yes, not bad at all."

"Meh, I've seen better. His knee placement wasn't too bad though."

"He seemed to be...enjoying himself."

"He looked so happy, Apachai thinks that he had a good time."

The two youths turned to see that the previous three masters had been joined by two others. The shorter one with the bushy eyebrows and an equally bushy mustache was Ma Kensei, the master of all forms of chinese kenpo. He was also a massive pervert, but that was a matter for another time. The taller of the two was even taller than Sakaki, from his extremely muscled yet tan physique you could tell that this man was rather dangerous. Of course after talking to him for more than thirty seconds you would discover that he was a gentle giant, despite his moniker of being the "Death God of Muay Thai".

"Anyway." Niijima cleared his throat in an attempt to regain control of the situation. "Now that I fulfilled my side of the agreement,I think it's time you came to see our new HQ." Kenichi sighed at little at Niijima's declaration. He never even wanted to join this stupid group in the first place, but Niijima had other plans.

"Fine, but I can't go right now. I'm kind of in the middle of training."

"Actually Kenichi you can have the rest of the day off if you want." Kenichi turned to master Akisame in shock, he never got out early. Heck, he barely even got _out_ in the first place. But he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth so…

"Alright Miu-san and I'll be there later." He had some time to relax, and he wanted to use it.

"Actually Kenichi, maybe you should both go _right now_."

"Eh? But-" Kenichi was stopped from finishing his sentence by Akisame. He didn't do anything physically, but for some reason when Kenichi looked in his general direction all he saw was a frozen wasteland full of pain and suffering that awaited him should he try and argue. "Right. Leaving now seeyouguyslaterbye!"

"Ah before you go, could we perhaps borrow that phone of yours. I would like to watch that video again. For… posterity." Niijima was never one to argue with those that were infinitely more skilled than him. So he nodded very quickly, dropped his phone, and ran after Kenichi and Miu. After they left the masters all gathered together to watch the video again.

"Hmm, what's that you all have there?" The masters all turned to see the final master of Ryozanpaku. Fuurinji Hayato was another massive man, who was even bigger than Apachai. Despite his obviously advanced age his long hair and beard were still a solid light blond that showed no signs of turning.

"We were watching… a fight." The elder raised an eyebrow at Shigure's explanation.

"What she means is," Kensei was attempting to use the momentary distraction to take an upskirt picture of said female. Unfortunately for him he was met with nothing but a shuriken that was aimed at his face for his trouble. He still dodged them but he missed getting a picture. "Is that one of our disciples young friends took this footage of one of the teachers at his school."

The elder couldn't help but be intrigued. "Oh, and?"

"Punk ain't too bad." It was Sakaki who spoke up this time. They all gathered around to watch it one last time, but this time Akisame paused it right as Naruto "kneed" the first guy in the gut. "Tch. Thought so."

"Indeed, this is rather troubling. This young man possesses some impressive technique." They had paused just as Naruto's knee had made contact with the man's gut. Or at least when he appeared to have made contact, if one were to look very closely they would see that his knee never actually came into contact with the other man's body. It stopped less than a centimeter away, the kinetic force that he generated was actually so great it was enough to send the man flying.

"Well one things for certain," a fire seemed to actually light in the elder's eyes, and the other masters followed suit. "We don't appear to be the only masters in town."

* * *

*Achoo* Naruto had long since went home, and was simply enjoying the midafternoon sun. "Huh, wonder who's talking about me. Meh, it's probably just some pretty girl from town." If only he knew.

* * *

 **AAAAAAAND done. Well, I thought this chapter was really fun to write. So hopefully you guys think it's fun to read. I will say though, I had almost forgotten how funny some of these manga are.**

 **Till later**


	3. Chapter 3

**First off, I would like to apologize for the whole "several weeks without an update" thing. I would like to shift all of the blame towards the orgasmic ocular experience that is known as Psycho Pass. It was recommended to me, and can I would like to only say one thing. HOLY SHIT! That is all.**

 **Disclaimer: Ask yourselves this; if I didn't own this before, why would I now? And more importantly, how CAN I own these serials by the next update?**

* * *

Seeing all of the masters of Ryozanpaku in one place wasn't a very uncommon sight. Seeing them acting serious wasn't that much of a stretch either really. However, seeing them all together and acting serious at the same time was a little unusual. They were currently assembled inside of the meeting hall, and were in fact having a meeting themselves.

"Now i'm sure I don't need to inform you all of this, but Yami is making it's move." The elder, who was usually quite carefree in appearance, displayed none of his usual laid-back attitude as he spoke to the others. The room was rather quiet as each of other masters took in this information. Until, not surprisingly, Sakaki had something to say about it.

"I don't know about you guys, but this is starting to look like it may be more than just a simple quarrel if this shit keeps up." The others couldn't help but to agree with him. Despite all of their collective strength Yami had them considerably outnumbered, and by extension, outgunned as well.

"I am sure that it goes without saying this," it was Kensei who took the floor this time. "But if they come after us, then they will most likely be going after our little disciple as well."

"APA! What?" Let it be said that Apachai wasn't ignoring the meeting before Kenichi was brought up, he was simply paying attention to other things(see: the floor). But now they had his full attention, for now.

The elder nodded in affirmation to Kensei's claim, it only made sense after all. It would be far, FAR easier for one of their disciples to defeat Kenichi then it would be for one of them to challenge a master. "They are aiming for the title of 'The strongest' after all. And now that they know he exists, it wouldn't surprise me if they decide to destroy our student first."

Akisame gained an inquisitive look, "What do you propose we do about it then?" He had a feeling that he already knew the answer, but he wanted to double check.

"Hmmm, what to do indeed?" The elder rested his chin in the palm of his hand, before gaining a dangerous tint in his eye's. "I think the usual plan will suffice."

"Heh, I was hoping you would say that." In response the karate brawler started cracking his knuckles.

The elder stood up from his seiza position on the floor, and a very powerful aura seemed to leak out of all of those that were present. "Yes it's time for… THE GIANT DEALING WITH IT WHEN IT HAPPENS PLAN!" If one were to listen very closely they could hear a figure fall directly on her face as she hid outside the meeting room. "Now then, meeting adjourned."

"If I may interject elder, there is still that other matter that we need to discuss as well." All eyes were now on Akisame now, and judging from the looks he was receiving, they had no idea what he was talking about. "Surely you all remember the video that we watched the other day, the one that showed Kenichi's homeroom teacher completely demolish that group of deviants."

"Oh, that guy!" Sakaki's eyes widened a small margin in remembrance. "He's… actually, who the hell is that guy anyway, I've never even heard of him before."

"Hmm, I see. This is rather troubling, but I think I know a way to find out his name." Kensei could hide his smirk behind a mustache, the other's couldn't do so however. So no one was surprised by what happened next. "Miu, since you're already here, could you tell us this young man's name?" The sound of tea tray being dropped just outside of the door signified that she had indeed heard his question.

The door slid open ever so slightly to reveal Miu with an apologetic look on her face. "Eheh, I got lost on the road of life?" She knew using one of her homeroom teacher excuses was probably a bad idea, but it didn't mean that she shouldn't try. The five rather serious, and one carefree, looks that she received said otherwise. So she figured she should probably answer the question. "That man is Uzumaki sensei, he's my as well as Kenichi's homeroom teacher."

"Strange, I don't think I've ever met anyone of note with that particular name before. I don't suppose any of you have either?"

"Nope."

"I don't believe so."

"Well there was this pretty girl at the supermarket the other day, I don't know her name but she was blonde too. There is most definitely a connection between the two of them, so I'll just go get my camera and-" The old pervert was forced to stop due to the shuriken that landed right where his body used to be.

"I've never heard of him… before." Shigure looked a little agitated, wonder why?

"Apachai hasn't seen him before." With that matter settled it was time to decide on the course of action. They had of course seemingly forgotten that Miu was even there, and proceed to make up some more plans.

"Do you all think we should go with the Confront Him Head On plan, or the Wait For The Right Moment And Then Jump Him plan?"

"Personally I like the Follow Him Around And Learn More About Him Plan."

"Psssh, that one's lame as hell. Let's just use the Kick His Ass And Then Maybe Apologize Later Plan."

"Oooh that's a good one."

"Thanks, I came up with it myself." This would continue on for several more hours, Miu having left the room shortly after plan Kickass had been suggested.

* * *

"Aaaah, Shit!" Naruto, while doing his evening mediation, felt a **very** foreboding sense of dread. As such he had fallen off of the platform that he did his meditation on, and had landed rather hard on his head. "Ouch, I don't know what cosmic forces are at work here, but they suck."

* * *

"Are you out of your mind?! You know what, forget I asked that question. A better one would be, when did you lose that last little shred of sanity you had left?"

"Hehehe, poor Kenichi. I'll let you in on a little secret, just between us." The unimpressive looking boy leaned closer to his alien-like "friend", wondering just was going on in his sick little mind. Niijima looked Kenichi square in the face, his own becoming as emotive as a rock. He then whispered in Kenichi's ear very silently, "I was never sane in the first place."

*SMASH* "OW DAMNIT, THAT FREAKIN HURTS!"

"Well maybe if you weren't such a devious bastard then I wouldn't get pissed at you all of the time! I said I won't do it and that's final!"

A very evil smirk appeared on Niijima's face, he had planned for this. He knew from experience that the only way to get Kenichi to fight was to use either underhanded tactics or blackmail. And given that everyone knew pretty much everything about the rather unassuming boy, he had to go with the former. "Oh well, I guess it's probably better this way, after all, I doubt you even have what it takes to take him on in the first place."

"Yeah that's- wait what?"

"It's not a problem at all really, given the way Fuurinji-san seems to admire him so much. I don't doubt that she probably has a crush on him or something."

"Hey hold on just a sec-"

"AND, I don't doubt that everyone else would agree with me when I say that you don't even have a chance against someone like hi-"

"ALRIGHT ALREADY! I fight the guy!" He wasn't sure why, but Kenichi got a really bad feeling from the look that Niijima was sending him. It made him feel like the strange - knew something that he didn't. Not surprisingly it made him feel more than just a little nervous. "Look, even if you got me to agree, there's no guarantee that he would agree to something like that."

Niijima just shook his head at Kenichi's naivety on the situation. "Actually,"cue really creepy smile, "He already agreed to it."

"What! How did that happen?" Niijima started to shake, at first Kenichi thought that he was afraid, then he realized that he was shaking with something akin to merriment.

"Hahahaha, like all others Naruto sensei has a weakness. It was just a matter of exploiting it."

* * *

 _Three hours ago_

 _It was the start of lunch period, so morning classes had just ended a little while ago, and Naruto was heading to the teachers lounge to get something to eat. He got part of the ways there, before someone call out to him._

" _Excuse me for a moment Uzumaki sensei, but can I talk to you for a minute?" The tall blonde turned to see none other than Niijima himself, who appeared to be holding something behind his back. His reply wasn't what he was expecting._

" _Go away will ya? I'm a little busy right now, if there's a problem then come talk to me after school." Niijima was taken aback for a moment, before regaining his fortitude._

" _Please wait sensei, it'll just take a moment." Now the blonde looked genuinely annoyed with Niijima's behavior, he turned around and started walking away, making a motion for Niijima to follow him. It was quiet for a few moments, and it was getting very clear that Naruto was not happy about his lunch time getting interrupted,_

" _Well? Spit it out already will ya'?"_

" _Sensei, are you… a martial arts master?"_

" _Of course I am, how could someone like me not be a-?" Naruto paused in his walking, prompting Niijima to do the same. Being one for quick recoveries, his obvious reply was, "Eh?"_

" _It was just a question, are you or aren't you." While on the outside Niijima was all seriousness, internally he was laughing his head off. This was going perfectly._

 _The blonde teacher in question turned his head to address Niijima,while keeping his expression as collected as possible. So naturally he had a very forced smile on his face that was accompanied by an extremely severe case of nervous sweat breaking out all over his face. "W-What was that again?"_

 _Of course now Niijima's plan was entering phase two, so he pretended not to hear his at all. "Hmm, it would make sense after all. The extremely impressive agility, the unnatural speed, the nearly perfect condition that your body is in. Yep, as far as I can tell that's the only explanation of the situation."_

 _The more that Niijima talked, the paler that Naruto's face got. By the time he was finished talking the blonde somewhat resembled a very unhappy looking ghost that had just ran a marathon. "Now wait just a minute here."_

" _Ah, Naruto sensei there you are, we were looking for a teacher to be the new karate clubs sponsor. And given your obvious martial arts background we were hoping that you could-"_

 _Naruto clamped down on Niijima's arm in a vice grip, and sped off down the hallway. Before they turned the corner Niijima shot the student a thumbs up, which the disguised member of the Shinpaku alliance returned in kind._

 _Naruto ran until he reached an empty corridor, before stopping to catch his breath. "Whew, that was a close call. Is it really that obvious?"_

" _Is what really obvious?" Naruto face faulted, that would have been the perfect opportunity to ditch this kid, and he panicked and ran. 'Man that was a dumb move on my part.'_

 _Naruto placed both hand in front of himself in a placating manner, "Now listen here, I assure you that there is absolutely nothing suspicious about me. I'm just an ordinary-" Niijima chose this time to pull out his pda that had the video on it, and proceeded to play it in front of the blonde._ " _ **I've had a lot of stress building up recently, and you guys might just be the perfect punching bags."**_

 _Niijima broke out into a full blown grin in triumph, before he saw the expression that Naruto had on his face. Or rather, the lack of an expression. His bangs were overshadowing his eyes, making it nearly impossible for him to guess what the blond was thinking._

" _Now you've done it." This simple sentence was enough to send chills down his spine. 'Did I miscalculate here?' Naruto cocked one of his fists back in a way that Niijima couldn't see, and in an instant he struck._

" _Ahhhh!" His fist struck out and destroyed the pda while it was still in Niijima's hands._

" _Kukuku, you should have taken better care of evidence than that, you were far too careless" Niijima looked shocked at the speed that his teacher had displayed, before once again returning to his wicked disposition._

" _That was rather surprising, it's a good thing I made sure to make a copy of it on my computer. Otherwise I would be in serious trouble right now."_

 _Naruto seemed not to have heard him however, he was currently praising himself on a job well done. "Heheheh, just like I predicted. You sure were stupid to come here and expect to be able to outwit-...Wait, backup?" It seemed that Naruto's patience was all but destroyed, as he grabbed Niijima by the collar and started shaking him wildly. "Listen here you little punk, where is this computer?!"_

 _Niijima was a little shaken up, but he still spoke his part. "If y-you would be willing to listen to my request. Then I would be glad to delete the video."_

* * *

"And so that's how it happened." Kenichi was sitting on a bench with his head in his hands, looking highly depressed. "Oh what is it now?"

Kenichi looked up at Niijima with a very sad look on his face. "Do you really think Miu-san likes him more than me?"

* * *

 **First off, I would like to say thank you to everyone that has taken the time to favorite/follow this story. It means a lot, the comments do too. I was going to wait until the weekend to finish this up, but I got a review that gave me the motivation to finish this early.**

 **Till Later**


	4. Chapter 4

**I. AM. ALIVE. Kinda. I seriously have no idea what I thought I was doing when I signed up to take eight classes in a seven period school day. But it is apparent that it is the single stupidest decision I have ever made. To make things even better, my right hand has been mostly unusable due to some schmuck that thought kicking it would be a good idea. But enough about my problems, you guys are here for a story.**

 **Oh, and before I forget. For those of you who made the connection between this story and the Manhwa "The Breaker", congrats you get self satisfaction(I have nothing else to give you).**

 **Disclaimer: Did either of the gentlemen who own either of these manga even go to school? Well I guess it doesn't matter either way, because they are the one's who own them and not me.**

* * *

"You what?!" Now usually Miu was a very kind, and often times ditzy person. But she knew that there were times for seriousness as well, and this was most certainly the time to be so. Kenichi of course tried to play it off as something that wasn't that big of a deal, and he failed miserably.

"Well Niijima sort forced me into it and… You know, now that I think about it. He really didn't have to try to hard."

"What exactly did he say to get YOU of all people to willingly fight someone else?"

"Well he… wait what." Kenichi looked in Miu's direction, surprised at her question. However, standing where Miu had been just seconds prior, was someone else entirely. While the one who who insulted him was still a female, that was roughly where the similarities ended. Where Miu sported a somewhat tall and rather buxom figure for a teenager, Nanjo Kisara was anything but. Not that she wasn't very pretty in her own right; maybe it was the torn up pair of jeans, loose fitting t-shirt, and the bright green cap that sat on her head of spiky red hair. Or perhaps it had something to do with the short temper and bad manners?

"Kisara-san? When did you get here?" Kenichi took a good look at his surroundings, yet he saw no trace of his previous companion. "And more importantly, where's Miu-san?" Anyone observing would have noticed the tick-mark that formed above her head at the mention of Miu.

"How the hell should I know where-"

"I think honey said something about running home to tell the your masters about your stupid decision." Kenichi and Kisara, one of the two was rather upset that she was interrupted, looked behind them to see their newest arrival. While he definitely wasn't short, he wasn't really all that tall either. Not to say that he wasn't unique, thanks to his rather dark skin tone and pale blue hair he still managed to stand out in the crowd, even if only a little.

"First Kisara, now Takeda. How many people did Niijima tell about this thing?"

"Kekeke, funny you should ask that." Speak of the devil and he shall appear."Don't worry, I only told the higher ups in the Shinpaku alliance about this one. Sadly everyone except for these two were busy."

Kenichi couldn't keep the deadpan off of his face. "Yeah a real shame."

* * *

"Holy shit really?"

"Hmm, I wonder what the circumstances were that led to this happening."

"..."

"Hehehe, yes that's right. Just a little to le-*ack*,erm… yes this is quite a problem isn't it?"

"Exactly, that's why I think you need to step in and stop him. I don't want Kenichi getting hurt over something stupid like this." Miu had done exactly as Takeda said she had, and ran back to go get the masters as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on which side you were on, her grandfather had gone on another one of his short trips. So he wasn't available for help. And Apachai was...well...being himself, so he was out of the question as well. So that just left the other four masters for her to turn to.

"Meh, let the brat handle it on his own. He got himself into this mess, if he gets his ass beat trying to crawl out of it then that's his problem." And with that Sakaki stood up and left the room.

"Sakaki's right I'm afraid. Our disciple could have turned this fight down if he really didn't want to. It's not our job to bail him out of his own problems." Akisame's words earned nods from both of the other masters in the room, the three of them then stood up and followed Sakaki out of the room leaving Miu all by herself to take in what they said.

"Ahh Miu by the way," Kensei poked his head back into the room. "If you leave now you might make it back to cheer him on." The short Chinese man retracted his head from the doorway and went join the other masters.

A minute or so after Miu had left, the Ryozanpaku dojo found itself completely empty. Just because they said they wouldn't interfere, didn't mean that they wouldn't watch to make sure he did okay.

* * *

"HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE?" When Niijima had set this fight up, set up being a very loose set of words, he had made very clear that it was to be right after school. He started to get impatient after the first thirty minutes, so it would make sense that after four hours he would be rather livid.

"M-maybe he just forgot." Miu, ever the optimist, didn't really sound too sure. After her visit with the masters was a failure, or so she thought, she rushed back as fast as she could hoping she hadn't missed it. Luckily for her, probably, the other person who would be fighting still had yet to arrive.

"Or maybe he doesn't think I'm good enough." Now Niijima was getting even angrier. ' _Tch just great, it took us nearly half an hour to get his self confidence up enough for this. Now though…'_ Saying he was a nervous wreck would be putting it lightly, he was shaking all over and his eyes were darting all over the place rapidly. It was almost as if he was afraid of Naruto appearing out of thin air.

"Either way, that bastard sure has some nerve. Next time I see him I'm gonna kick him in the-" It seemed that fate really wasn't on Kisara's side today.

"You know miss Nanjo, I could find a way to give you a detention for saying things like that." And there he was, everyone(except for the masters) had been so busy complaining, that they didn't notice he had arrived until it was too late "Sorry I took so long everyone, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way here." Since he had taken such a long time to show up it would make sense that he would be decked out in some sort of special combat clothing or fatigue. At Least, that's what everyone was expecting. They might have been a bit surprised to discover that he was wearing the exact same thing that he was wearing when he taught class that day.

"IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!" Four voices cried out in unison, between Takeda, Kisara, and Niijima all screaming at the same time time, they made quite a bit of noise. It was the fourth voice however that was the loudest. This caused everyone present to look around in confusion at their surroundings.

* * *

On a rooftop adjacent to their location, three people were piled on top of one very muscled individual trying to hold him down and keep him quiet.

* * *

*Ahem* "Well now that you finally decided to show up we can begin." Niijima was doing his best to regain control of the situation, not that it would do him much good.

Naruto simply nodded along with what he was saying, and kept a friendly and kind hearted smile on his face all the while. "I really am sorry that I took so long, but I had to go home and get something." Now that the young group of disciple class fighters, and whatever the heck Niijima was, had gotten over their initial surprise of seeing him suddenly appear, they all noticed that the blonde was holding something. That something just so happened to be a sheathed katana.

Upon seeing what he had in his hand Kenichi went pale, he hated weapons with every fiber of his being. Seeing his and everyone else's expressions, which measured from ' _Oh crap I'm fucked'_ to ' _Katana?',_ he decided to calm everyone down.

"Geez, calm down will ya'? I'm not gonna use the actual sword on him." The blonde turned towards Kenichi, and gave him a small smile. "Listen Kenichi, I realize that you probably didn't want to do this in the first place, I get it. Trust me, _I do."_ The blonde seemed to direct those last few words at Niijima who was trying as best as could to make himself look as unassuming as possible. "So because this is just a ' _spar'_ as your little alien friend over there put it, I think I'm gonna cut ya' a little break."

With that the blonde pulled out a short piece of thin rope and tied it around his katana so that the sheath could not be removed. "Here, see for yourself." Naruto tossed the blade lazily in Kenichi's direction and despite fumbling with it initially, he still caught it.

Before he even began to inspect it to see if what his teacher said was true, he noticed how heavy it was. ' _Holy crap, this thing weighs a ton. If it weren't for all of my training I doubt I would be able to even pick this thing up.'_ Upon making that realization, Kenichi came came upon another. ' _Wait a minute, if I'm having this much trouble just holding this thing, then I wonder how he uses it'…._ Kenichi's eye's widened as he came to yet another conclusion. ' _I get it, he probably plans on using this thing as bludgeoning tool on me because it's so heavy. So all I have to do is move really fast so he won't be able to hit me. I should probably just charge him head on and catch him off guard.'_

"Satisfied?" The sound of Naruto's voice snapped him back to reality. Looking over the blade one more time to make sure that it couldn't be removed from its sheath, he nodded and then tossed it back to his teacher. Who caught it one handed as if it weighed less than a feather. If Kenichi had had more experience, maybe even just better observation skills, then perhaps he would of picked up on a little more than he did. Unfortunately this was not the case.

"Come at whenever you feel like."

Miu could practically hear the danger sirens going off in the background, ' _I knew this was a bad idea'._ Kenichi could only nod as he did his best to swallow back his nervousness. He then eased himself into a base karate stance, and waited for his blonde opponent to do the same. So, imagine his surprise when he did no such thing. Instead he chose to stand there waiting for Kenichi to make his move. And after a while he did so. If Kenichi could have seen his masters, then he would have seen all of collectively face palm at the same time. They could only think one thing, ' _Needs more training… A LOT more training.'_

He charged directly at the teacher with the intent of surprising him with his speed, only for him to get knocked back onto his butt. ' _What… what was that?'_ One moment he was moving at full speed towards the blonde, the next he was suddenly stopped and lying in the dirt. Everyone, at least everyone that wasn't watching the fight from the rooftops in secret, had one thought on their mind. ' _I didn't even see him move.'_ Kenichi was about to stand back up, but something that was placed right over his forehead stopped him from doing so. Less than an inch away from his face, in all of its horrific glory was an unsheathed sword. Or that's what it appeared like to him at least, everyone else only saw the sword still cover by its sheath and wrapped up in twine.

"Now then, I think you should probably go ahead and give up now." It was no more than a whisper, but might as well have been a scream at the top of his lungs. Because everyone heard it as clear as day. All Kenichi could do was nod very slowly at the blondes request as he looked into Naruto's eyes and, even it was just for a moment, he thought that he sensed killing intent. Naruto responded by tapping him very lightly on the forehead with his sheath causing Kenichi to blink. And to his shock, when the blink was over the sword was once again replaced by its sheathed form.

The blonde then promptly turned around on his heel and began to walk away, leaving the small crowd of teenagers to stare in shock. Niijima only had one though go through his head as he remembered back to the other day. ' _Now I remember what the feeling was, it was the same feeling that Kenichi's masters give off.'_

"Wait!" Kenichi had gotten off of the ground and noticed that despite the bruise that was starting to form on his forehead, he was completely unharmed. ' _Maybe I just imagined it?' Still, what the hell did he do to me?'_ The blonde didn't turn back, but he did stop in his retreat for just a moment.

"What?" He didn't sound impatient, upset, or even angry. Just very, very tired for some reason.

"That technique you used on me at the last second, what was it?" This was enough to get even the attention or the masters on the roof. Naruto stopped standing there, and began to continue on his way. Before he got too far away however he called on thing back to them.

" **Shitonegaeshi."**

* * *

 **Translations**

 **Shitonegaeshi: (Cushion return) One uses their ki to subdue an opponent through coercion alone.**

 **HOLY HELL I'VE BEEN GONE FOR A MONTH! Seriously I find it amazing how fast time seems to fly when you aren't having fun, but what can I say? Now I know what you guys are all thinking, "Why The Breaker?" I'll tell you why, cause it's freaking awesome. I actually discovered both of the manga/manhwa at around the same time, and I fell in love with both of the them. Though I like the Breaker a little more because it's a little more serious at times and a lot less fanservicey than Kenichi, but I still like the both of them a lot. I'm gonna try to update YOB next cause i've already got over 2k words for the newest chapter done for that one, i don't know when I'll have the time though.**

 **Till Later**


	5. Chapter 5

**Not a lot happens in this one, it's really just to set up the next chapter. Some of you guys are starting to complain about the lack of action. Worry not, that's exactly what this chapter sets up**

 **Disclaimer: I (insert my real name here), do not in anyway shape or form own or make claim upon either of these works.**

* * *

Anyone who has stepped foot inside the Ryozanpaku dojo anytime in the past few months could tell you two things about its older inhabitants. First, they were all complete monsters with almost no regard for common sense. And second, they believed in tough love. By observing their day to day interactions with their young pupil, one could understand both of these traits rather easily.

Not to say that they don't care about their disciple, far from it. They simply understand that the best way to learn a lesson is to have it pounded into your skull with tremendous force. It was for this reason that they pushed him so hard in his training, and it was also why they didn't fight his battles for him. That being said, that doesn't mean that they like to see Kenichi get injured(by anyone besides them).

' _Tch, these guys deserve credit for being persistent, i'll give them that.'_ Ever since Naruto had tossed Kenichi across the school grounds like he was nothing more than a bag of feathers with the words "Hit Me" written with a big red marker on the front, they had been tailing him for the past couple of hours through various means.. For the first few minutes that he sensed that he was being followed he decided to let it be, he figured they were probably just curious about him. At the very least he had was at least counting on them getting bored of it. As time passed however, and minutes turned into hours, he began to grow more and more annoyed with his predicament.

He could determine that there were at least three different signatures following him wherever he went. What worried him were the ones he couldn't detect. It was pretty hard not to spot the two hulking behemoths that were traversing the rooftops on either side of him, especially since the dark skinned one had actually waved at him at one point. He didn't know if the big guy was messing with his head or was just plain stupid, either way he would still be a big problem if Naruto couldn't lose him. It didn't take a master level fighter to tell that he was a complete monster.

He could also feel another presence tailing him from behind, the only reason he able to point this one out was because at one point the little old man had stopped momentarily to grope a female bystander before continuing on his way. However, at one time or another he had caught the briefest glimpse of a white hakama out of the corner of his eye, and had since then been unable to relocate its wearer. He would've liked to chalk it up to mere coincidence, but he knew better.

' _One things for certain, if I don't lose them in this place then I'll have to confront these guys. And I really don't want to do that.'_ Naruto had been walking/running around for hours through the most public and traffic heavy areas in town, but he was running out of places to go. The small yet heavily crowded market area that laid ahead of him would be his last opportunity to lose them for good. So, he slipped into yet another crowd and did his best to lose his pursuers.

* * *

 **(Rooftop overlooking the market district: 5 minutes later)**

Four figures were scanning the crowd with absolutely no success,. "Slippery little brat isn't he?"

"He did detect us rather quickly, he has most certainly been trained by a professional."

" I can't believe we lost him like that, he's kinda startin' to get on my nerves."

"Apachai likes him, when he waved at him the blonde waved back." The other three present master's had to suppress the urge to sigh at the gentle giants revelation. All three of them seemed to mirroring each other's thoughts. ' _We should have left him home.'_

"Well in any case he seems to have given the _four_ of us the slip for now." Ma Kensei wasn't one to give up easily, but he knew when was bested. That didn't keep the smirk off of his or anyone else's face however. The eyes of all four of the men present on the rooftop flashed white with power for just a moment.

* * *

Several blocks away a slightly out of breath blonde was taking a moment to recollect his thoughts. "Holy shit that was close." ' _A little too close there Naruto, come on you're better than that.'._ In truth though Naruto knew it was pure luck that he had managed to slip away from them in the end. Normally he would never run away from a confrontation, but it wasn't a simple fight he had just avoided. He could tell at a glance that the ones following him were not the types that one wants to mess around with.

"If it was just one of them I wouldn't have had a problem getting into a fight, but four at once would be crazy."

"I suppose it's good… that it's just me then." The blondes eyes widened by a considerable margin; partially because of the new presence that had just made itself known, and partially because of its relative location. It's point of origin? Right above where he was standing. His first thought was to leap away and try to put as much ground in between himself and this other new presence as possible. He killed that though when he realized that if this person wanted to attack him then they probably would have already done so.

So instead Naruto simply raised his head in the direction he was addressed from, and eyes widened even further. ' _Holy crap.'_ The woman in front of him was easily the most beautiful that he had ever laid eyes on. When their eyes met it he felt his legs go numb for a fraction of a second. The two of them simply stared at one another for awhile, sky blue meeting light purple, attempting to glean as much information about the other as they could. Then without any warning at all the woman jumped off of the nearby rooftop and landed less than five meters from where Naruto was standing.

' _She didn't make a sound when she landed just know, well at least I know how I wasn't able to detect her following me.'_ His eyes drifted down to her side, don't ask where they were before that, and his body tensed up a bit when he noticed the sword that was at her side.

She seemed to notice his sudden preparedness, and slowly slid into a more battle ready position as he did the same. "You use a sword."

"Eh?" He didn't know exactly what it was that he was expecting from this woman, but this definitely wasn't it. "You seem to have one too." If she was going to talk to him like a child, then he would return the favor.

If she was miffed by it than the purplette certainly didn't show it. "You seem skilled."

' _She must be a riot at parties. I don't know how good she is with that thing, but judging by the way she was able to sneak up me like that she has to be at least as good as I am. She looks pretty young, but that doesn't mean that she isn't dangerous. I should know. '_ "I've been told that I'm pretty good, but I've definitely got room for improvement. How about you?"

The blank look that was plastered to her face was replaced by a slightly more thoughtful one, but only for a moment as it quickly returned to its natural beautifully stoic state. "I'm okay...I guess." If the situation wasn't so tense he might have found her response somewhat comical, but he knew better.

"I don't mean be rude or anything, but… Well... why the hell have you and that merry bunch of monsters in human skin been following me around all night?" What could say? Naruto had learned long ago that when dealing with eccentric people you had to be rather blunt and direct with them if you really wanted to get your point across. Her response wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but that didn't make his situation any better.

"Our disciple, Kenichi." In fact, his situation might have just gotten a little worse. ' _Wait a second, this chick is that little punks master?' WHAT. THE. FUCKING. HELL? How does that even happen? I was stuck with that pervy old coot for twelve years and he gets_ _ **her**_ _for a teacher!'_

Shigure didn't know what surprised her more, the blondes relative calmness at being so close to a master level opponent or the fact that he had just collapsed to his hands and knees and was openly bawling like a child. He would occasionally mutter something about an "Old bastard" or a "lucky little shit".

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that those freaks of nature that were chasing after me have something to do with that brat as well." Naruto was now back on his feet, once again displaying an awfully composed look for someone who was just on the ground crying like a child. The nod he received from her only served to make that lump of dread in his stomach even heavier.

"I also venture to guess that you lot probably didn't take kindly to what happened back there. Am I right?" She nodded again. He let out a sigh before continuing on. "And I suppose you want a little bit of payback for roughing up your disciple huh?" This time instead of nodding the woman across from him reached her hand down and gripped her sword, before disappearing from his sight completely.

' _Fast!'_ It was the only thing that managed to cross his mind before he spun on his heel and just barely dodged a forward slash from his female opponent. Not wanting to be caught off guard again, Naruto jumped back several meters away from the woman and got in a battle ready position of his own. Instead of moving after him she remained rooted to her position. The exchange happened so fast that to a regular observer the two of them appeared to have simply switched places, instead of the brief yet deadly one sided exchange. "Does that answer your question?"

A smirk made it's way onto Naruto's face, ' _Guess she can do more than sneak around afterall._ "That was pretty impressive, I barely managed to move out of the way of that one. I hope you don't mind, but before we get too far into this, would you mind telling me your name?"

"Kōsaka Shigure."

' _Oh fuck me sideways.'_ It took a lot of effort on his part to keep a straight face, but he still managed to keep his face and voice relatively calm. " My name's Uzumaki Naruto."

"I see." It was a good thing that she could see, because no else in the nearby area aside from her Naruto would be able to see what transpired next.

* * *

 **To answer your questions, yes I did in fact just do that. How do like it everyone, how does it feel? Stan finally used the all powerful and always dreaded cliffhanger. Is it a good cliff hanger? I don't really think so, but I digress.**

 **On another note though, HOLY MERCIFUL JESUS ON THE HOOD OF A MERCEDES BENZ! We did it, we broke 225 follows. I can honestly say I was not expecting that sort of reaction from you guys, to tell the truth it feels fucking awesome. And I want to take this chance to thank you, the reader. For doing absolutely nothing except...well...read.**

 **Yes the fight will happen in the next chapter but as for when that will actually happen, well who knows. It could be today, it could be when those morons that are in charge of my WIFi actually fix it properly so I can stop using my mobile data for all of this shit. Also, the pairing for this story is not set in stone. As a matter of fact, I have no idea who it will even be with. I'm just trying to do my best to keep all available options open.**

 **Til later**


	6. Chapter 6

**Let me start off by saying this is not an update. This is to inform you guys that it may be a while until my next update. My laptop decided to completely go kapoot on me, so I've lost a lot of things. Luckily I saved some of my notes and drafts to the cloud, so I haven't completely lost everything. But still, without a laptop I have no way to write and update anything for the time being. I'll try to get a new one as soon as I can, I'll just have to rob a bank to get the money. So it will definitely be over a month until I can try to work something out. Sorry for wasting your guy's time.**

 **Till later**


	7. Chapter 7

**So listen, I would like to begin my three part apology by that I think you are all a bunch of wonderful people. And well…**

 **Sorry everyone, I made you wait for a long time. I won't bore you with the specifics about my life, but please know that everything has semi-sorted itself out for now.**

 **Disclaimer: All persons(me, myself, and I) hereby acknowledge that I hold no owner ship of any of the materials used in this work of fiction. And aside from my own often times stupid and crackpot ideas, all contents and materials belong to their respective authors.**

If one were to ask about Naruto's upbringing, then it was doubtful that they would get a simple answer. Infact they would most likely be a told a combination or half-truths and twisted facts. For example if one were to ask about his mother he would probably tell them that she was a kendo enthusiast. What he would not tell them however, was that she was known as one the best kendo practitioners in all of Japan.

It wasn't like it was a big secret or anything, he just didn't like people knowing more than they had a right to. This was also one of the reasons that he didn't like to draw his sword around other people, it simply gave away far more information than he would have liked. What he was quickly coming to realize however, was that sometimes you just needed to say the hell with it.

' _Okay, I need to weigh my options here. I could make the first move and charge at her head on while screaming at the top of my lungs. But aside from that being the most idiotic idea I've ever heard, I also risk opening myself to her attacks. Okay scratch that, I'm not getting turned into a walking cutting board, even she is ridiculously hot. But, on the flip side, teh longer is stand here the longer she has to come up with an idea.'_

Naruto looked her in the eyes, and did his best to try to see what she was planning. He narrowed his eyes at her, as he was met with nothing but an empty expression that gave very little away.

Deciding to test the waters a bit, so to speak, he gradually eased himself closer to her position to see how she would react.

The blank emotionless look that he was given was enough to show him that she didn't seem overly concerned. However, he was able to notice the sudden tensing of her body, as well as the firmer grip with which she now held her sword. The two of them were studying the others habits, even if neither of them were aware that they were even displaying them in the first place.

Suddenly his danger senses activated, telling him to duck and roll off to the side. It was a good thing too. Shigure, or more precisely her sword, were where Naruto was not even a second prior. ' _Right, I guess she got tired of waiting and chose for me.'_

She stared at him questioningly, seemingly put off that all he did was dodge. "Your sword. Why didn't you draw it?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow before absently chuckling to himself, something that did not go unnoticed by his opponent. "Why? Is me not using a blade going to be a bother to you?" That remark seemed to rile her up a bit, even if only by a little. "Not to offend you or anything, I'm just not really supposed to use this thing on people if it isn't for the right reasons."

"What… reasons?" Her inquiry seemed to somber his mood, and the small smirk he had on his face dropped.

"Well you see, my sword style isn't exactly meant for friendly competition, so to speak. And it certainly isn't supposed to be used against some random lady that I just met all of five minutes ago." ' _Even if you are ridiculously hot. Wait, where did that come from? Bad Naruto!'_

Her only response to him was to harden her gaze even further, and take a more battle ready stance. It wasn't really all that noticeable, just the slight tensing of a select few muscles. Showing that she was ready to move anywhere at any time. It seemed she had gotten the meaning behind his words, even it wasn't all that well hidden. Naruto couldn't keep a sigh from escaping his lips, well at least he tried to avoid a fight for once in his life. Now there was no way Ero-Sennin could get mad at him, he probably still would actually. He did that a lot.

"Alright then, since you asked so nicely." Reaching down to his waist, he slowly undid the knot that kept the sword from being drawn from its sheath. "I think I already know the answer to answer to what i'm about to ask, but I should probably check just incase. Your a katsujinken right?"

The tone with which he asked indicated that it didn't really matter to him, but in all honesty it did. Killing was, to him, a rather iffy prospect. Was it sometimes necessary as a means to ensure one's own survival? Unfortunately, yes. Did that mean it was always okay? Negative ghost rider. He was of the mind that it should only be done as a last resort. Suddenly, his eyes picked up movement coming from the purplette. Almost faster than he could react, a small object was launched at his head. Almost being the operative word, as he snagged it out of the air just before it impacted with his face. What was this deadly weapon? A kunai? Shuriken perhaps?

None of the above actually it was a… well… it was a-

"Spoon?" The blonde looked at the woman like she was insane. A perfectly logical assumption, actually. She had indeed thrown a spoon at his head. A large, flat, wooden spoon to be precise. "D- did- did you just throw a rice serving spoon at me?" Naruto for his part looked completely flabbergasted, things were so serious before. And then she threw a spoon at him. It actually brought a rather good question to mind for him.

"W-why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you throw this at me?"

"Hmmm." She seemed to ponder for a moment. "Because I felt like it." Well he guessed he couldn't really dispute that one now could he?

He was at a bit of a loss though. Yes, this was quite the predicament. Especially since she was giving him an unsettling look, constantly shifting between him and the spoon that had ,until recently been in her possession. "Uhh… Do you want this back or…?"

* _Stare*_

"Is that a yes?" Shigure nodded her head ever so slightly, indicating that she indeed wanted her precious spoon back. Naruto looked back and forth between her and the spoon a few times, only to see her extend her hand out to him. Indicating that she wanted her spoon back, now. " I'm not so sure that I should give this back to you."

"Why?" She looked a little annoyed.

"Well… How do I know that you aren't just going to throw this thing at me again?" It seemed that it was her turn to look at him like he was crazy. Her look seemed to say ' _What type of person would throw a spoon at someone else?'_ and to be quite honest it sort of pissed him off a little bit.

"Alright, fine. But don't throw it at me again, alright?" She nodded as he walked over to her and placed the spoon in her hand before walking back to his original position. Definitely not how he thought this was gonna go. "Now then, where were we?" Seriously he forgot. He was pretty sure they were at the te- Reacting on pure instinct, he drew his katana from its sheath faster than most eyes could follow and destroyed his target. The spoon was now split perfectly down the middle and laying at his feet.

"Hey! You said that you weren't gonna throw that thing again!"

"I lied. And you didn't say please."

The blonde felt a smirk making its way onto his face as he slid his sword back into its sheath. ' _She may be blunt, but I kinda like her style. Ahh what the hell. If she wants a duel, then I'll give her one.'_ He nonchalantly slid into a stance of his own, if you could call it that. It resembled a bastardized version of a basic fighters stance. His right hand lightly grasping his **tsuka** , while the other was firmly holding onto his **saya**.

 **(Just used these cause I got tired of saying sheath and handle and blah, blah)**

He couldn't help but feel a little giddy, he was actually going to get fight someone of greater or equal skill of his own. ' _Still, I'll need to make this quick. If the rest of that merry group of monsters shows up, I doubt having my sword will make a big difference._

So, taking a deep breath. He steeled himself for what was to come.

 **Jigen Ryu: Nadegiri**

* * *

What was that he said? It was so faint that she could barely hear it, any quieter and it would have been lost to the wind. Yet she definitely heard him mumble something, even it was incoherent. It was a good thing too, as her hearing was what saved her from being sliced cleanly in half.

She brought her sword down to meet his, and was surprised at not only the speed, but the strength that was behind his blows. They exchanged a brief flurry of slashes before they separated for a moment due to her leaping back. It seemed that Naruto would be having none of this however, as he immediately charged in to close the distance between him and the so-called weapons prodigy.

Any weapons user that was worth their salt had heard of the Kosaka style. While not one of the more world renowned styles, it was still incredibly famous among the upper level members of the weapon using community. And as such, Naruto wanted to put that to the test.

Despite Naruto closing the distance between the two of them, Shigure seemed far from worried. In fact she seemed to expect his actions and was able to effortlessly evade or parry every slash he sent her way. Seeing her easily defending herself, Naruto decided to change things up a bit.

" **Jigen Ryu: Ryodan!"** Swiftly bring his sword above his head, he then swung down as hard as could, in attempt to cut her directly down the middle. Seeing the danger in his movements, and that blocking his attack would be ineffective, Shigure spun as fast as she could to the side. Due to her last millisecond decision, all that Naruto's attack managed to do was cut off a small strand of her ponytail styled hair. What it did to the ground however, was another story.

He had put a lot of force into that move, as a result the street that they were fighting on gained an impressive sized gash in it, along with the parked car that had been right behind her losing a considerable amount of trunk space.

What surprised her the most however was the fact that his katana was completely unharmed. Now that things had settled down, even if it was only temporary, she was able to get a good look at the weapon her adversary was making use of. If she were to be honest with herself, despite being a relatively well made sword, it wasn't all that remarkable.

Realizing that was more than enough to cause several alarm bells to go off I'm Shigure's head. A regularly made katana, no matter who was wielding it, should not have been able to stand up to the stress that his was just put under. Yet it was perfectly fine, if anything it looked like it had been freshly polished instead of just used to turn the street into a block of cheese.

She had done her best to coerce him into making the first move by being so nonchalant, obviously that hadn't played off very well. The guys at home, and Miu, would not be happy that another serving spoon had gone missing. That made the third one this month. Still though, she had gotten what she wanted. Their short yet furious exchange had told her what she needed to know.

While it was only by small margin, she could comfortably say that she was the faster of the two. She would have to concede strength to him though, as his larger frame and more developed physique made him her superior in that regard.

All in all, he was good. Very good. Not as good as her, but in this type of duel a small slip up could still prove fatal to either side. Even if she wouldn't kill him, she had no guarantee that be wouldn't try to kill her. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised to learn that he was a Satsujinken user, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it.

Then there was the matter of his sword drawing technique. It wasn't the technique behind it that made it so deadly. Rather, it was the speed behind it that made it dangerous . While she was faster than him, for some reason that didn't really extend his **battoujutsu** skills. Shigure was very fast on the draw despite her being so young. Yet here was someone her age, perhaps even younger, who was faster at it than her.

"Are sure you want to continue?" Naruto called out, only to see her nod her head once again. This time all he could do was sigh at her behavior. "You don't talk much, do you."

"..."

"Oh come on. You aren't still made about the spoon are you?"

"..."

The sound of their blades meeting filled the air once more as he aimed a diagonal slash meant to cut her from her shoulder to her opposite hip.

"Right just checking." Naruto could feel a smirk begin to make its way into his face. They had only just begun, and yet he was already more excited than he had been in a long time. It wasn't often that he was able to test his strength against people who could keep up. He was also eager to see where he stacked up when compared to someone at the master level.

They continued to trade a flurry of blows, their blades moving so fast that they would have appeared to be empty handed were they not moving in tandem with their weapons. Despite the speed of their exchanges however, both of them were still entirely unblemished.

Naruto brought his blade down at an angle, aiming for just below her waist. Only for her to stick her blade into the ground and do a handstand on top of top of it. How do you even do something like that? She then brought her right leg down swiftly, aiming for his head. Not looking worried in the slightest, the blond pulled off a clutch maneuver of his own by back flipping under the attack.

It was a rather risky move on his part, as it left him with little room for error, but he was positive that everything would work out just fine. How does the saying go? Fortune favors the bold? Naruto had good luck in spades, so he figured he was covered. Little did he know that fortune often times doesn't give a shit and does whatever the hell it wants to.

Thus the explanation as to how Shigure used Naruto's moving lower body as a springboard to do a flip of her own, one that allowed her to pull her sword from the ground and bring it around in a massive arc towards his back that was still in motion. The results we're not pretty, at least for the protagonist anyway. The impact on his back sent Naruto back towards the ground at an alarming rate. Utilizing his long arms he was able to quickly catch himself before he hurled himself off to the side just narrowly avoiding her follow up strike.

Without missing a beat he rolled to his feet and immediately brought his sword up catch hers on it. He utilized his larger frame he pushed with enough force to drive her back a few feet in an effort to give himself some breathing room. It seemed that Shigure wouldn't be giving him any room to breath however as she moved to re engage their dance of death.

Things were definitely not going Naruto's way. Although it was very gradual, he could feel his body beginning to tire. his back screamed at him every time he swung his sword, and it was starting show. The wound itself seemed very superficial, at least from the outside, and appeared as nothing more than a large yet thin welt that travelled from the lower left of his back all the way to his right shoulder blade.

It looked more like he had been struck by a baseball bat wielded by Heracles on steroids than a sharpened weapon that could easily lop a man in two. To make matters worse it hadn't been just a single strike. It might have looked like one, but he could feel that he had been hit at least four times in under half a second.

This was bad, really bad. He was pretty sure she'd broken the back of his rib cage in a few places, and he couldn't raise his left arm above his shoulder. Wait, left arm. That was it! It might not be a very clean idea, but it just might let him pull off a win. The only problem was, well… He had to get hit to make it work. There was also the matter of his left arm not being fully functional.

And he really wasn't sure that he could take another blow from that woman. Meh, nothing ventured nothing gained. ' _But first,'_ Switching the sword to his right hand, Naruto did something that he hadn't in a long time. Strategized.

' _All right, for this to work I'll need to charge head on. Make it seem like it's a last ditch attempt to catch her off guard. I'll swing my sword with just my right arm in an upward motion, making sure that she mirrors me. Then I'll do the unthinkable, drop my sword. I'll have to use the distraction from to my advantage and catch her sword with my right hand, which will be freed by me dropping the blade._

 _Only problem is my back, I can't move at full speed thanks to that hit I took earlier. So I'll have to time it just right so that I catch her sword right as it hits my body. Then I'll use all the remaining strength in my left arm to hit her as hard as I can.'_ It was crazy idea, but it was better than nothing. ' _Alright then, let's do thi-'_ Why was everything going dark?

* * *

* _Poke_ * ' _Go away, I'm tired.'_

* _Poke poke_ * ' _Seriously knock it off'_

* _poke poke poke poke poke poke_ * "AHHHH, knock it off!"

"Sorry." He opened his ocean blue eyes to lavender pair staring straight back at him.

"It's fi-." Wait what happened? Why was he on the ground? ' _Why is she standing over me like that and oh shit she knocked me out didn't she?'_ Feeling the top of his head, there was indeed an impressive sized welt atop it. He sent her a look that probably said "What the fuck?"

"You were just standing there with your eyes closed and with a pained look on your face. I walked up to you and bonked on the head to try and get your attention." His expression didn't change in the slightest, if anything it got worse. "I guess I hit you too hard, I apologize." '

"Hmmm…...Well that sucks."

* * *

 **Tsuka- The handle of a katana**

 **Saya- The sheath of a katana**

 **Hitotsume: Nadegiri- (First strike:Killing stroke) A swift strike usable on many types of opponents, usually done so fast that the enemy isn't aware of it until it's too late.**

 **Jigen Ryu: Ryodan- (Revealed reality: Head Splitter) One brings down their sword with enough force to cut someone cleanly down the middle.**

 **From now on i'll be putting in translations like the ones above are. I was going to put both versions in the story, but I found that it just made things look awkward. Thanks again for being so awesomely patient! It's been over four months since I even so much as looked at this story, kinda forgot it was even a thing until I got bored and decided to skim through my emails a bit.**

 **So the fight...feedback on it would be highly appreciated, as I've never written something like that before. Tips, pointers, Walmart gift cards(disregard that last one actually). Each of those things would be highly valued, as I'm doing this to try and entertain you lot as opposed to putting you all to sleep.**

 **(On the side, I would like to extend my gratitude to anyone who helped this story get to where it is. Nearly 70 reviews, over 200 likes and almost 350 followers. It means a lot to me, and I am glad that I can give you guys a small form of entertainment, meager as it is.)**

 **Till later**


	8. Chapter 8: Intermission

**I say some stuff at the end, I promise.**

 **Disclaimer: I hereby proclaim that all of the materials referenced (Aside from Naruto, HSD, and occasionally The Breaker) belong to me. And give myself full permission to use any and all ideas that manage to come through my thick skull.**

 _ **16 years ago**_

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of a funeral? Is it the stereotypical dark, cloudy, and depressing weather? The morbidly gloomy mass of mourners dressed all in black, gathered together to comfort one another? Or is it that final moment, as the coffin is slowly lowered into the ground, signalling one's true end?

Naruto didn't really know what to expect when he showed up, but this certainty wasn't it. The sky wasn't dark and foreboding, and the weather wasn't cold or unforgiving.

It was quite the opposite in fact. The temperature was mildly warm, spring having been in full effect for sometime now, and a person would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of scattered clouds in the sky.

One would think that, with the conditions being so accommodating, that a plethora of people would be gathered around the grave site. And yet, he was alone. There were no coffins. Apparently there hadn't even been enough of them left to bury, or so he was told. All that served to mark their existence on this earth were two small marble plaques, barely more than a few dozen centimeters wide.

The inscriptions were rather short and to the point.

 **Namikaze Minato**

 **Husband**

 **Father**

 **Namikaze Kushina**

 **Wife**

 **Mother**

To say that he was distraught was putting it mildly. While he wasn't showing much in the way of emotion now, he'd been a mess for the last few weeks. As would any eight year old boy whose parents had just died. Several days had passed since then however, and the tears had eventually dried up.

Less than a month ago he'd been a happy, carefree little boy with everything he could ever dream of. His smiles had the ability to effortlessly light up an entire room, and more often than not, were also highly contagious. Now… well, he didn't look all that out of place in his surroundings.

He didn't know how long he'd been standing there, but if the position of the sun was any indication, then several hours had already passed him by.

A pair of footsteps reverberated through the cemetery, giving off the relatively noticeable sound of wood on cobblestone. The steps continued to grow louder, as they appeared to be nearing the boy. Until they finally came to a stop right next to him.

Either the boy didn't realize the man was there, or he simply didn't care, as he showed no changes upon the arrival his new companion. Even when the owner of the footsteps (now revealed to be an older looking man with long, shaggy, white hair) leaned down to place flowers on each of the respective graves, Naruto still didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Hey kid, listen for a minute alright?" Still no change. "I'm sorry about your parents, and I know you probably feel devastated right now, but we can't stay here. More specifically, _you_ can't stay here." For all intents and purposes Naruto might as well have been a statue. The older man let loose a deep sigh, it had been awhile since he'd had to deal with a kid, especially one this young.

Kneeling back down so as to be at Naruto's level, he grasped his hands in the boy's small shoulders and made a point to look him straight in the eyes. "Do you know who I am kid?" Surprising enough, he was met with a rather tentative nod.

"You're Jiraiya ojisan, you were tou-san's old teacher." His response was level and rather monotonous, as was to be expected. Still, that was definitely a step in the right direction. The old sage felt the corners of his mouth twitch upward to form a small smile.

"You're the one that kaa-san said to stay away from, because you were a massive per-"

"Okay, that's enough of that. Jiraiya covered Naruto's mouth with his hand to stop him from saying something he'd heard a thousand times over. "More importantly though…" his expression losing all traces of humor from the moment before. "I wasn't kidding around when I said that we can't stay here for very much longer."

Naruto's small face tightened into a scowl, it might have actually been a pout at this point actually, as he turned away from Jiraiya. "Why should I? It's not like anyone can tell me what to do anymore anyway." The old sage felt a sigh escape his person as he stood back up to his full height, which was over twice that of the little boy standing next to him.

"Come one kid, we need to get moving." The old sage seemed to be rather incessant that they depart as soon as possible. "You've stayed in this place way longer than you should have anyway. I would have picked you up at the orphanage a week ago, but the people in charge told me that you haven't gone back there in over a week."

In response Naruto just turned his head away with a *hmm*.

Jiraiya let out another sigh, he'd been doing that a lot recently, as he massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. There was only one thing that he could think of that would snap the boy out of his current mood. It had always worked on the boy's father, he'd seen Kushina use it quite effectively before as well, so it would probably work on Naruto too.

 ***WHACK*** "OW, WHAT THE HELL?!" Yes, he just hit him really hard on the back of his head.

Hey, it wasn't stupid if it worked.

"I wasn't kidding about needing to leave here brat, do you really think the people that did this are going to be content with a half assed job? I'll guarantee you the only reason that they haven't sent anyone else is because they're a little low on man power after how much damage your folks managed to do before they went down. Don't you think at some point they'll come back for you and finish what they started?" That made the boy's blood run cold as his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

He hadn't been home when their murders took place, as he'd been staying late after school for acting up, again. He wanted some extra time to think, so he knew that even if it got him into more trouble, he was going to take the long way back. That ended up proving to both a blessing and a curse.

* * *

 _He'd come home to find both the screen and front doors closed and the lights turned off, all of them. Even the porch light, which was always on, was now turned off throwing the whole front yard into darkness. It gave a rather creepy, almost ominous look about the entire property. He wasn't too sure, but he thought he saw someone move inside._

 _While a normal person would probably turn around and run away screaming at the top of their lungs, he did no such thing. Naruto's mother, and occasionally his father, would pull pranks on him from time to time. Usually in an attempt to try to teach him a lesson. He still remembered his last day of the first grade when he'd decided to get back at his homeroom teacher by putting the class hamster in her bag. Apparently she went to get something out of her bag while in the bathroom, and it ended up scaring the literal shit out of her._

 _He was never under any suspicion, at least from the school. His mother had a way of finding out things, as all mothers do, and immediately realized that her son was the culprit. How did she get him back? She put an animal in his bag too, except this one was a little bigger than a hamster. To this day he still had a respectable fear of things with tusks._

 _So that was why, in his youthful ignorance, he figured that his mother had found out about his detention, and was planning on making sure that it didn't happen again. It wasn't until he got to his front door that little Naruto realized that something was wrong. The entire lower half of the door was stained with something, but it was far too dark for him to make out what it was._

 _Upon closer inspection, he noticed that something was sticking through door. 'Are these… swords?'_

 _True enough, two curved blades were protruding several inches out through his front door, one right below the other. And from what little he could tell, which wasn't much actually, the blade was most definitely not of a Japanese origin._

 _He had tried to open the door, but he noticed that it was a lot heavier than it should have been. When he finally pulled the door open, what he saw would haunt him for the rest his life._

 _Terrified couldn't even begin to, describe how he felt._

A pair of terrified blue eyes met with Jiraiya's own. "W-what am I supposed to do? Am I gonna die too?"

The old sage seemed to be debating something, as he was quiet for a moment before he kneeled back down and spoke. "The way I see it kid, you have two options. The first, and easiest of those is running."

The boy looked confused, so Jiraiya decided to clarify. "You can turn right now, and run as far away as you can. You might make it, but you probably won't. If they found your parents, who were experts at blending in with their environment, then they'd find you in less than a week. And that's if they haven't found you already. They _might_ let live for a little while longer, but I doubt it."

Jiraiya had refrained from mentioning that he'd already encountered a few of those unsavory individuals over the last few days. They were nothing but trash to anyone with even a small amount of skill, but a sheltered eight year old boy?

He'd respected Minato and Kushina's decision to leave their son out of the martial arts world, but that didn't mean he agreed with it. As it was, he was very far behind where he should be for his age.

If Naruto was scared before, then he was on the verge of wetting himself now, wasn't this guy supposed to be here to help him? "The second option however. While it has a slightly higher chance of you surviving in the long run, there'll definitely be more than a few times where you wish you were dead."

The blonde boy looked torn, one hand he had turning into a homeless person. He'd probably last a few more days before he got picked up by a police officer, then he'd most certainly be taken back to the orphanage.

He'd only spent a few weeks there, but he already hated the place. It was cold, and the people there didn't want anything to do with him. Something about not wanting to deal with, "another stray brat". It was one of the reasons that he took to wandering the city so much.

Naruto's eyes seemed to suddenly ignite with determination, which led to his next question. "What's the second option?"

For the first time in nearly a week, a grin split on the old perverts face. "I'll tell ya about it, but you have to agree to something before I do."

"And that is?"

"You can't quit, no matter what happens." Jiraiya's stone cold eyes met with Naruto's own, and he saw nothing but sheer determination.

"I'll do it."

Maybe having another apprentice wouldn't be so bad after all?

 _ **3 weeks Later**_

 _'For the love of the kage, this was the worst idea I've ever had.'_ Jiraiya was sitting on the side of a river bank with his face in his hands. Why?

"Hey ero-sennin are you almost done yet? Can I leave? I'm bored, why are we even here in the first place? Fishing is really boring. Who even came up with the idea of holding a giant stick while trying to catch a fish anyway? Hey ero-sennin, your face is starting to turn red. Are you okay? Do you need to see a doc-"

"Shut up ya' brat! You're going to scare all the damn fish away!" The two of them had more or less been having the same conversation for the past four or so hours.

"Huh? You're the one that's being loud you pervy old coot!" Four...Whole...Hours.

Now one might find it odd that anyone would even begin to try to put up with something for that long. Buy unfortunately for these two, that's how things had to be. When Naruto had agreed to become Jiraiya's apprentice, not that he really had any other choice, he had been expecting a slightly less… spartan lifestyle. While he knew that his days of waking up in nice soft bed to his mom making breakfast were ultimately at an end, he had hoped for at least a roof over his head.

Not only was he mistaken, he was horribly wrong.

For you see, there was a little fact that his new sensei had forgotten to mention. That fact being that he was, more or less, a homeless person.

Jiraiya insisted that that wasn't the case at all, and that nature was his home. He then proceeded to drone on about the lifestyle of a sage, and how he could never allow his heart to be tied down to any given location. Naruto just called him for what he actually was.

A hobo.

And unfortunately, no matter how much his sensei might claim otherwise, being a wandering vagrant with poor moral values wasn't a profession. Apparently at one point before Naruto was born the old sage had been a semi-successful author, and had published quite a few books in his time. Although Naruto was never allowed to read any of them.

* * *

" _You aren't old enough to fully appreciate these great works of art just yet Naruto, but don't worry. I'll let you read them when you're old enough_." _Jiraiya nodded, and spoke in a sagely manner._

" _When will I be old enough for that?_

" _Normally I'd say you could read them right now,but I want to be a responsible adult. So you have to wait until you're at least ten."_

" _Oh, okay."_

* * *

He wouldn't turn ten for over a year, so naturally he wasn't very happy about that. But eventually he'd given in and relented. For now. It wasn't that he actually wanted to read them in first place anyway, he was just curious. That, and when you told Naruto that he couldn't do/have something, he took exception to it.

"Hey ero-sennin." A stray thought suddenly manifested itself into his brain.

"Hmmm?" It was clear that Jiraiya wasn't exactly thrilled with him at the moment.

"If you used to be an author, then shouldn't you have a big stash of cash sitting around somewhere?" It made sense, to him at least. Anyone who had done as well as his teacher "claimed" to have done shouldn't be sitting homeless by a mountain stream.

"Kid, do you have any idea how demanding the lifestyle of a sage can be?" The blonde boy didn't reply directly, instead opting to send a glare at his _teacher._ "Don't give me that look kid. I'll have you know that I spent that money doing very important research."

"Don't give me that crap!" The little blonde looked down right scandalized. "The only "research" I've seen you doing is when you were peeping on those pretty ladies at the bottom of the stream."

Jiraiya's eyes shot wide open, and he moved to clamp his hand over the boy's mouth as quickly as he could. "Be quiet will ya'?! If they find out we're up here then there's going to be hell to pay, do you understand?!"

"Mmnfhsi klysffm shhsya?" Naruto couldn't really talk on account of the hand still clapped over his mouth, but that didn't stop him from sending the old man a rather weak glare. "Fwwk eyyue."

Jiraiya seemed to be eyeing him rather warily, but after a few moments he removed his hand from the blonde's face. "Are you going to keep complaining, or do you actually want to eat something tonight?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at Jiraiya's question, but relented nonetheless. "Fine, what do I need to do _oh great sage of the hobo's_?"

If he was angered in anyway by the blondes attitude he didn't show it all, he'd been called worse by the boy's mother after all. "Just go and try to find some firewood like how I showed you, and don't come back until you have enough."

Naruto have a mocking half salute in response, before turning on his heel and walking away to do as he was instructed.

Jiraiya released a long held in sigh after the boy the had disappeared within the treeline. _'Definitely more trouble than Minato. He's got his mother's personality for sure.'_

The old sanin gazed absently at the bobber on his line as it steadily moved up and down in the current. _'Still though, I'll have to start with his actual training soon. He needs to be ready to deal with 'them' when the time comes.'_

So far he'd been having him keep mainly to stretching and some light conditioning. Naruto was young, so he didn't need to worry about putting on muscle or gaining large amounts of speed for a little while yet. What was important now were the basic forms, a strong foundation now would ensure that he would do well later on.

The boy's parents may have been retired from _that_ world, but that didn't change the fact that they were both highly skilled. In fact, he fairly sure that Minato very well could have surpassed him before he turned twenty if he and Kushina hadn't had Naruto so early.

As soon as they found out she was pregnant they decided that they were done living that kind of life. It had been easy for the two of them, with the help of a few close friends, to disappear into the life of a couple of newlyweds living in a small Japanese town.

The fact that they were expecting a child made it all the more easy for them to blend in with the people around them. And then it had all ended in fire and death.

Jiraiya had been understandably distraught at hearing that someone whom he considered to be like a son to him had been murdered along with his wife. He and Kushina might not have gotten along well per say, but he still cared for her.

The grief had eventually given way to anger, and after that confusion. Sure leaving that particular group of people wasn't exactly a good thing, but it wasn't like it wasn't allowed. It happened quite often when the older members went into retirement. And even if there were hard feelings there, it wouldn't result in them being killed like that.

The line of Jiraiya's pole had long been picked clean, but he was far to engrossed in his thoughts to notice it. _'And that means that the Murim most likely weren't the ones responsible for the attack.'_

Jiraiya reached into his inside vest pocket and pulled out a scrap of cloth that'd found when he'd tried to determine what exactly it was that happened. _'Black and red huh?'_

He released another sigh before looking back in the direction that Naruto had gone in. ' _Minato, Kushina… I know the two of you wanted more for him than the life that the two of you lived, but I don't think that's an option anymore.'_

He might have failed his former apprentice, but there was no way in hell he'd let the same thing happen to Naruto.

Even if he was an annoying little brat.

* * *

 **Hello again…**

 **Can I just say awkward? Maybe not for all of you, but it definitely is for me. Apparently living on your own is a lot of work, and now that I better understand that I feel like I've leveled up a bit.**

 **First and foremost, I'm very sorry that I kept you all waiting for so long. Some of you longer than others apparently, because holy crap. I almost dropped my phone when I checked the follow and fav counts for this thing. I want you to know that it really means a lot that you all appreciate this mediocre work of whatever enough to keep reading it.**

 **This chapter is sort of an in between thing. As you probably noticed, aside from a little bit of background knowledge and the like, nothing really happens. This is mainly because I wanted to ease back into writing this kind of stuff rather than just jump in head first and accidentally write in a zombie apocalypse or something (guess who just thought of a new omake idea).**

 **As I've said before, this has a lot of elements from** **The Breaker** **integrated into it, so I highly recommend you that you give that a read. And it's totally bad ass, so there's that too.**

 **I'm currently in the process of editing the earlier chapters. I haven't posted the changes yet, because I want to get all of them done before I do, so expect that to be happening at some point. The changes aren't anything major for the first chapter or two, I just added in a few things that help to make things that will happen later on make more sense. After that though there will be several definite changes to some things, so yeah. Progress and all that.**

 **I don't know when the next update will be, probably a month or some from now if I had to make a guess. I want to make sure that I don't half ass this, and trying to do this, work, and college at the same time sounds really terrible. I had thought that once winter break had started I'd be able to get some writing done, I was horribly wrong. Apparently the holidays are absolute hell for people that work in the shipping industry.**

 **At least all of the extra hours I worked helped my LN collection grow right? (Konosuba is lit)**

 **Sorry again for the delay.**

 ** **Till later****


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